Standards & Accountability
Read more about the skills students are expected to acquire and policies designed to hold schools accountable for learning
What’s the Purpose of Standards in Education? An Explainer
What are standards? Why are they important? What's the Common Core? Do standards improve student achievement? Our explainer has the answers.
Standards & Accountability Opinion What Next-Gen Accountability Can Learn From No Child Left BehindAs we ponder what's next for accountability and assessment, we’d benefit from checking the rearview mirror more attentively and more often.
Standards & Accountability Opinion Let’s Make Transparency the Pandemic’s Educational LegacyTransparency can strengthen school communities, allow parents to see what’s happening, and provide students more of the support they need.
Standards & Accountability Social Studies Standards Spark Fierce Debate in N.C.Advocates say the new standards are more inclusive because they give more attention to the perspectives of historically marginalized groups.
Standards & Accountability The Feds Offered Waivers on ESSA Accountability. Here's Where States Stand on Getting ThemWhile they get less attention than testing waivers, flexibility related to low-performing schools is an important federal and state issue.
Standards & Accountability Opinion How the Failure of the Common Core Looked From the GroundSteve Peha shares insights from his on-site professional-development work about why the common core failed, in a guest letter to Rick Hess.
Standards & Accountability Opinion Common Core Is a Meal Kit, Not a NothingburgerCaroline Damon argues Rick Hess and Tom Loveless sold the common core short, claiming the issue was a matter of high-quality implementation.
Standards & Accountability How New Common Core Research Connects to Biden's Plans for Children and FamiliesA study of national test scores indicate the early phase of the Common Core State Standards did not help disadvantaged students.
Standards & Accountability Opinion After All That Commotion, Was the Common Core a Big Nothingburger?The Common Core State Standards may not have had an impact on student outcomes, but they did make school improvement tougher and more ideological.
Standards & Accountability Opinion Absenteeism Is the Wrong Student Engagement Metric to Use Right NowIn a post-pandemic era for school accountability, let’s focus on measuring what matters.
Standards & Accountability Biden Education Team Squashes States' Push to Nix All Tests but Approves Other FlexibilityThe department has telegraphed its decision to deny states' requests to cancel federally mandated tests for weeks.
Standards & Accountability Explainer Will There Be Standardized Tests This Year? 8 Questions AnsweredEducators want to know: Will the exams happen? If so, what will they look like, and how will the results be used?
Standards & Accountability New Media Literacy Standards Aim to Combat 'Truth Decay'The RAND Corporation has released a set of media literacy standards designed to help teach students to identify misinformation.
Standards & Accountability Opinion What Should School Accountability Look Like in a Time of COVID-19?Remote learning is not like in person, and after nine months of it, data are revealing how harmful COVID-19 has been to children's learning.
Standards & Accountability State Schools Chiefs Push Biden for Wiggle Room on Accountability During PandemicState schools chiefs say it's necessary to change how they use scores from mandated annual tests during the unprecedented disruption created by the coronavirus pandemic.
Standards & Accountability Could Biden Find a Middle Path on Student Testing During the Pandemic?Waiving some portions of federal law could help the Biden administration craft a compromise on tests, but pressing questions would remain.
